Junior College BASEBALL : Moorpark Loses to West Los Angeles

West Los Angeles College scored eight runs in the second inning and made them stand up for a 13-10 non-league victory at Moorpark Tuesday afternoon.

The Oilers scored on seven singles, two walks, and two Moorpark errors in the inning. All eight runs, four of them earned, were charged to starting pitcher Steve Francis, who took his first loss of the season.

West L. A., now 2-0, added a run in the third, Moorpark scored in the bottom of the third, then West LA got three more in the fourth to take a 12-1 lead.

The Raiders began their comeback with a three-run sixth which featured a two-run homer by third baseman Sean Lang and a solo home run by shortstop Dan Russell.

After West L. A. added a run in the eighth inning to increase its lead to 13-4, Moorpark loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning against starter Mike Aspray and WLAC Coach Art Harris summoned his ace reliever, Mike Olivier.

Olivier was less than sharp and allowed four runs to score in the eighth and two more in the ninth.

Valley 5, Oxnard 5--Darkness

Darkness brought an end to a comedy of errors in a non-league game at Valley.

Valley jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second on four straight singles, two wild pitches and a balk. Oxnard ace Oliver Nichols, who as selected by Milwaukee as the No. 2 pick in the January draft, was knocked out during the rally.

Oxnard, 2-0-1, came back with a run in the third and two in the sixth.

Valley added an insurance run in the eighth on a solo homer by sophomore catcher Paul Cottrell, who had scored the first run after singling in the second.

It wasn’t enough insurance.

The Monarch defense, which made eight errors in the opener against Cerritos, made three errors in the ninth to allow Oxnard to take a 6-5 lead.

But Oxnard Coach Jerry White made a bigger error.

During the ninth inning he had pitcher Doug Simons announced as batting for his designated hitter. Then the designated hitter came up and hit a ground ball that was thrown away for Valley’s seventh error. Valley Coach Scott Muckey then protested that the Condors were hitting out of order and the batter was called out for the final out of the inning.